Chag Sameach everyone! I hope you had a nice meal with your family. We went to my cousin’s house for the first night of Rosh Hashana and had a lovely time.
We invited some friends of ours for dinner last night. My husband made a Rosh Hashana favourite and I introduced several new surprises to our repertoire. Everything was delicious.
The cake calls for sour cream and one of my guests has a dairy allergy and can only tolerate butter in baked goods, so I substituted a non-dairy yogurt in its place. It worked fine.
And in case you are wondering about why I served a dairy cake, we keep kashrut according to the Italian tradition which is one hour between meat and dairy.
Our menu was:
Cocktails
Provence des Papes Savoury Biscuits
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 sprigs of basil
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 50 g 3.5 tbsp pine nuts
- 300 g 1.3 cups flour
- 10 cl .4 cup warm water
- 10 cl .4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 25 g 1.7 tablespoons baking powder
- 4 egg yolks
- Ground pepper
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Prepare a pesto by crushing the garlic cloves with the basil, olive oil, and pine nuts.
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Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, virgin olive oil, egg yolks, warm water, and some ground pepper. Add the pesto and blend well to obtain a smooth dough.
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Roll into a long snake and slice the into 1/4 inch (6mm) wafers and bake at 180C (350F) for about 10 minutes (depending on size).
Rosemary Cashews
Cocktails
First Course
Apples with honey
Pomegranate seeds
Ducklava with Chestnut Honey
Main Course
Clay Pot Festival of Fruits Chicken
Couscous
Green beans
- 1 chicken cut into eighths
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 4-5 whole garlic cloves
- 2 cm fresh ginger grated or chopped finely
- 1 quince cored and cut into eighths
- 10-20 majhoul dates pitted and cut into quarters
- 10 dried figs stem removed and cut into eighths
- 10-20 dried sour apricots cut into quarters
- 20 walnut halves
- Couple of pinches of black pepper
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp. ground allspice
- 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 1 cup water
- ½ c pomegranate molasses
- ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil
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On a low heat, place the olive oil in the clay pot, just to cover the surface. Add the onions when the oil is hot, but not sizzling. When the onion is soft, add the garlic. When the onion is lightly brown, turn up the heat and add the chicken pieces, stirring constantly until browned, approximately 10 minutes.
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Reduce the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on a low flame for approximately 1 ½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes and checking that there is enough remaining liquid for a nice sauce.
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Server with nut-studded rice or couscous.
Round Challah with dried fruits and nuts
Golan Winery Sion Creek red wine
Dessert
Beekeeper’s Honey Cake
Mango-Nectarine sorbet
- 3 medium size mangoes cut into chunks
- 3 large nectarines peeled and cut into chunks
- Juice of one medium size lemon
- 1/2 cup simple syrup or to taste
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Place the mango and nectarine chunks in a food processor and process until the mixture is a puree. Add the simple syrup and lemon; mix for one to two minutes. Put in an ice cream maker, following manufacturer's instructions.
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Take the sorbet out of the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving.
